Method of making hand bags and product thereof



May 5, 1925. 1,536,121

. J.'S. MEYER METHOD OF MAKING HAND BAGS AND PRODUCT THEREOF Filed July23, 1924 Patented May 5, 1925.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JACOB S. MEYER, OF PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA.

METHOD OF MAKING HAND BAGS AND PRODUCT THEREOF.

Application filed July 23, 1924. Serial No. 727,723.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, J noon S. MEYER, residing atPittsburgh, in thecounty of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, :2. citizen of the UnitedStates, have invented or discovered certain new and useful Improvementsin Methods of Making Hand Bags and Product Thereof, of which thefollowing is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in the method of constructing handbags, whereby a bag of simple structure may be produced, with advantagesboth in diminished cost of construction and in neatness of appearanceand serviceability. Invention is found also in product.

The invention is illustrated in the ac companying drawings, in whichFig. I shows diagrannnatically and in perspective, parts of the bag inthe course of construction, and serves to illustrate how the method isperforn'ied. Fig. II is a view in perspective of the finished bag.

The sort of hand bags with which my,

invention has particularly to do are those formed of pliable material,the mouth rimmed with a frame of rigid material, and the frame beingmade in two parts hinged together, for opening and closing. Ordinarilythe bag is formed of leather, or of a substitute having similarproperties, and the frame is formed of steel. It is with the particularconstruction of the frame and the method of securing the bag material tothe frame that my invention has to do.

The frame is formed, sometimes of fiat strips, sometimes of strips ofangular crosssection, sometimes of round rods, and the bag material issecured to it, sometimes by riveting, sometimes by inclosing the framemembers in a hem sewed in the edge of the bag. I form my frame of flatstrips of steel, and I so assemble it with the bag material that the bagmaterial is in the completion of the frame autogenously secured to it.

Referring to Fig. I, a web of bag material-leather or its equivalent-isinclicated at 1. 2, is a strip of steel of proper length, bent tochannel form in cross-section, and closely enclosing the straight edgeof the web of bag material. IVhen these parts have so been assembled, inthe rela tive positions described, and indicated by full lines in Fig.I, the frame member 2 is bent, and its ends turned to the dottedlineposition, thus forming a U-shaped frame part, which is one half of thedouble hinged frame of the bag mouth. This bending is preferably donebetween dies in a bending press. In the operation of bending, the twostrips are confined against free relative displacement and the overlyingweb of the channel-shaped steel strip is stretched, relatively to theunderlying web, the two webs are drawn closely one upon the other, andthe web of bag material lying between is caught and securely clampedbetween.

It will be observed that the operation as thus far described isperformed upon an otherwise unshaped web of bag material. When two partshave so been shaped, they are brought together, their frame partsarticulated by hinge-pins 3, and their webs of bag material united byseams 4. A bot tom for the bag may be shaped as desired. Incidentally,before or after assembly of the two halves a handle such as 5 andlocking means such as 6, 7 may be applied in well-known manner. Theapplication of the handle involves, ordinarily, a riveting-through ofthe frame, as at 8, and of course such riveting or even additionalriveting is not forbidden; but my invention involves the clasping of thesubstance of the bag wall between two webs of metal drawn one toward theother by bending, as the primary and essential means of securing theseparts.

I have shown and described the strip of metal 2 as formed of one piece,bent transversely to the form of a narrow channel. Manifestly it is theopposite webs of this channel which are essential to the practice of theinvention. The interconnecting bend of the channel is desirable, in thatit affords a smooth rim 9 for the mouth of the finished bag. Butotherwise the interconnecting bend is unnecessary, and the two webs maybe disconnected strips, and in that form also my invention may bepracticed.

The strip 2 of steel or other suitable metal will ordinarily receive itsdesired surface finish, before being assembled with the web 1 of bagmaterial. Such surface finish may Vary widely in character; ordinarily,the metal is covered with a thin closely-adherent integument of leatheror leather substitute.

The bag particularly illustrated in Fig. II is of the style or typecommonly called the Boston bag. Ordinarily therim of a Boston bag isformed of a round rod of steel, enclosed in a hem of the bag material.The mouth of the bag closes by abutment of the opposite rim members, anda strap and buckle secure the rim parts in closed position. The bag soclosed is not weathertight, and in continued service and in consequenceof bending of the frame, the mouth is apt to gape open even when securedin what is intended to be closed position. It will be observed of thebag illustrated in Fig. II and embodying, as I have explained, myinvention, that it is a Boston bag, modilied with respect to the framewhich forms its mouth. In closure the flat strips, applied after themanner described and in application embodying my invention, overlap inthe closing of the bag, and make a weather tight closure, which will notgape open.

I claim as my invention:

1. The method herein described of mak ing the U- haped member of a handbag with the bag material secured thereto, which consists in assemblinga web of bag material between the opposite webs of a straight strip ofmetal channelshaped in cross-section, bending the strip when assembledupon the bag material transversely to U-shape between dies, and in sodoing effecting at the bend constriction of the outer web upon the innerand a finished union between the web of bag material and the frame.

2. A. hand bag comprising in part a U-shaped frame member formed of aninitially straight channel-shaped strip, having the web of materialwhich forms the main wall portion of the bag inserted within the channelof the frame member while the frame member still is straight, the saidstraight frame member with the web of bag material in place in itschannel having been bent between dies to the ultimate U-form, and inconsequence of such bending the outer wall of the channel having at thecorners of the frame been constricted upon the inner wall with the webof bag material between, whereby the web of bag material is grippedbetween the opposite walls of the channel and the parts integrated intoa finished union.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand.

JACOB S. MEYER. Witnesses B. R. ROTHMAN, I. B. Ro'rHMAN.

